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| Clarence Britten (inset) robbed the Saks Off Fifth store while on probation for a felony gun charge, police say. |
An Englewood man who’s on probation for illegally brandishing firearms inside a Loop Chick-fil-A has been charged with last week’s armed robbery of Saks Off 5th, 6 South State Street.
Clarence Britten, 20, pulled out a black revolver to ward off store security during a February 18 heist that earned him two pairs of sunglasses, prosecutors say. Cops arrested Britten last Friday after he was identified in a photo array.
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| Surveillance images that store security officers say show Britten entering Saks on Fifth and, later, holding a firearm. |
He’s charged with Class X felony armed robbery and misdemeanor retail theft. Judge Sophia Atcherson ordered him held without bail.
Last July, Britten bit a Macy’s security guard who tried to stop him from leaving with stolen merchandise at 111 North State Street, according to police and court records. He was charged with felony aggravated battery of a merchant and misdemeanor retail theft. But Cook County Judge Marvin Luckman agreed to throw out the theft charge and reduced the felony count to misdemeanor battery in exchange for Britten’s guilty plea. Luckman granted Britten a two-year conditional discharge on August 8, 2017.
On August 31, 2017, Britten was arrested after management and customers reported that he was flashing handguns, yelling gang terms, and threatening to hurt somebody at Chick-fil-A, 177 South State Street.
Police said surveillance video showed Britten enter the restaurant with a leather bag containing two handguns. At some point, he took one of the guns out, placed it in his waistband, and said “I’m going to hurt somebody outside,” according to prosecutors.
Britten repeatedly yelled, “I’m BD! I’m BD,” a reference to the Black Disciples street gang, his arrest report said.
Prosecutors charged him with two felony counts of unlawful use of a loaded weapon and misdemeanor counts of criminal damage, trespassing, reckless conduct, and possessing ammunition and a firearm without a Firearms Owner ID card.
Less than three weeks later, Britten pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of a weapon and received a sentence of 18 months probation from Judge Erica Reddick.
On the lighter side, sheriff’s department records note that Britten’s neck sports a tattoo of “Jimmy Neutron holding a gun accompanied by the words ‘Gotta Blast.'”
